CITOVITZ AND FIREFLIES OF FEBRUARY Surprise Release "My Story" - A 12 Track Album of Survival, Truth And Unspoken Pain!
Songwriter and Guitarist Andrzej Citowicz with Wife Shereen Shoukry Citowicz Release Deeply Personal Album on First Day of 2026
"Now
I Understand" Lyric Video Marks New Year's Day Debut of Album Written
Through Loss, Resilience, and 53 Years of Untold Stories
Cairo,
Egypt – January 4, 2026 – In an unexpected New Year's Day release,
Citovitz and Fireflies of February—the musical partnership of songwriter
and guitarist Andrzej Citowicz and his wife, Shereen Shoukry
Citowicz—have released "My Story," a surprise 12-track album available
now on all major streaming platforms.
Unlike
their recent Italian Christmas collaboration, "My Story" represents
something far more personal and unexpected: an entire album where
Andrzej composed every song, but Shereen wrote all the
lyrics—transforming 53 years of lived experience, overlooked pain, and
unspoken trauma into music.
A SURPRISE ALBUM BORN FROM SURVIVAL
"My
Story" arrives without advance promotion or industry fanfare—released
on January 1st, 2026, as an honest beginning to a new year following one
of the darkest periods in the couple's life.
"This album
wasn't planned as a surprise release," Andrzej Citowicz explains. "But
after everything we've been through—the loss of our son, the grief, the
struggle to keep breathing—we realized this couldn't wait for
traditional album cycles or marketing strategies. These songs needed to
exist in the world. My wife's words needed to be heard. On the first day
of 2026, we wanted to give something real, something honest, something
that might help someone else who's been overlooked, unappreciated, or
broken by life."
The 12-song collection
translates trauma into music, grief into melody, and survival into
art—continuing the couple's evolution from Andrzej's deeply personal
"Living Room Rockstar Part 2" (dedicated to their stillborn son Jonasz)
through their Italian Christmas singles, and now into this complete
collaborative statement.
SHEREEN'S VOICE: 53 YEARS OF UNTOLD STORIES
While
Andrzej Citowicz has spent years processing emotion through music, "My
Story" marks the first time his wife Shereen has claimed the narrative
entirely through her own words.
"My wife sums up her 53 years
of life in this album," Andrzej states. "It is her message to the
world—a world that was often cruel and unfair to her. She was overlooked
and unappreciated for so long. With my music, she is voicing her own
traumas and laying out the truth. If you too are overlooked and
unappreciated, this is for you."
The discovery
of Shereen's remarkable voice during their Italian Christmas recordings
revealed one hidden dimension of her talent. "My Story" reveals another:
her ability to transform personal pain into universal truth through
lyrics that speak for anyone who has been dismissed, diminished, or
denied.
"These aren't just her stories,"
Andrzej emphasizes. "They're the stories of everyone who was told they
didn't matter, everyone who carried trauma in silence, everyone who
survived what they were never supposed to survive. She's giving voice to
all of that. Every lyric comes from lived experience. Every word is
earned."
"NOW I UNDERSTAND" – THE ALBUM'S OPENING STATEMENT
Leading the album is "Now I Understand," accompanied by a lyric video released simultaneously on New Year's Day.
"This
song is crucial," Andrzej explains. "It represents that moment when
everything suddenly makes sense—when you look back at your life and
understand why things happened the way they did, why you had to go
through what you went through, why the pain had purpose. My wife wrote
these lyrics from a place of hard-won wisdom. After 53 years of being
overlooked, she finally understands her own story. And now she's sharing
that understanding with anyone who needs it."
The
lyric video allows listeners to connect directly with Shereen's
words—to read, absorb, and recognize their own experiences reflected in
her truth.
"We wanted people to see the lyrics as they
listen," Andrzej notes. "These words matter. They deserve to be read,
considered, felt. This isn't background music. This is someone's life,
translated into language that might help someone else survive theirs."
FROM LOSS TO MUSIC: TRANSLATING EVERYTHING
The
couple's recent journey—from the devastating loss of their son Jonasz
to the revelation of Shereen's musical gifts—has been marked by their
choice to transform unbearable pain into creative expression.
"We
translate everything into music and lyrics," Andrzej states simply.
"It's how we survive. After losing Jonasz, music was the only language I
had. Now, with 'My Story,' my wife has found her own language too.
We've taken the hardest moments of our lives—loss, grief, trauma, being
overlooked and unappreciated—and we've made something from them. Not to
glorify the pain, but to prove that even the worst experiences can be
transformed into something that matters, something that connects,
something that helps."
The album continues the
musical evolution established in their earlier collaborations, with
Andrzej's guitar-driven compositions providing the foundation for
Shereen's unflinchingly honest lyrics.
"I write the music from
my heart," he explains. "She writes the lyrics from her lived
experience. Together, we're creating something neither of us could make
alone. That's what 'My Story' represents—two people who've survived the
unsurvivable, creating art from the wreckage."
A MESSAGE FOR THE OVERLOOKED AND UNAPPRECIATED
Throughout "My Story," the album speaks directly to those who have felt invisible, dismissed, or denied their truth.
"If
you've ever felt like the world didn't see you, like your pain didn't
matter, like your story wasn't worth telling—this album is for you,"
Andrzej emphasizes. "My wife spent 53 years being overlooked. She spent
decades with her trauma unacknowledged, her experiences diminished, her
voice unheard. 'My Story' is her way of saying: I was here. I survived.
My story matters. And so does yours."
The surprise release on
New Year's Day carries symbolic weight—a declaration that new beginnings
are possible even after profound loss, that voices can be found even
after decades of silence, that stories can be told even when the world
tried to silence them.
"Starting 2026 with this
album feels right," Andrzej reflects. "It's a statement of survival, of
resilience, of refusing to let pain have the final word. My wife's
lyrics prove that even when life has been cruel and unfair, you can
still create something beautiful from what tried to destroy you."
TECHNICAL AND ARTISTIC APPROACH
Musically,
"My Story" maintains Citovitz's signature approach—guitar-driven
compositions influenced by classic rock craftsmanship while embracing
contemporary production techniques. But the lyrical focus shifts
entirely to Shereen's perspective, creating an album that balances
Andrzej's melodic sensibility with Shereen's narrative truth.
"I
wanted the music to serve her words," Andrzej explains. "Every guitar
line, every arrangement choice, every production decision was about
creating space for her lyrics to breathe, to be heard, to land with the
weight they deserve. This isn't a guitar showcase. This is her story,
supported by my music."
The 12-track collection
covers the full range of human experience—from trauma to healing, from
being overlooked to being seen, from survival to understanding.
"We
didn't hold anything back," he states. "These songs are honest about
the hardest parts of life. But they're also honest about hope, about
resilience, about the possibility that understanding can come even after
decades of pain. That's what 'My Story' offers—not false optimism, but
earned hope."
CONTINUING THE JOURNEY: FROM ITALIAN CHRISTMAS TO "MY STORY"
"My
Story" follows the couple's Italian Christmas singles "Notte Di Stelle"
and "Un Altro Domani," which marked their first musical collaboration
and the discovery of Shereen's vocal abilities.
"Those
Christmas songs revealed that my wife had this incredible voice,"
Andrzej recalls. "But 'My Story' reveals something deeper—that she has
stories that need to be told, experiences that need to be voiced, truth
that needs to be heard. The progression feels natural. First, we
discovered she could sing. Now, we're discovering what she needs to sing
about."
The couple's evolution from Andrzej's
solo grief processing in "Living Room Rockstar Part 2" through
collaborative holiday celebration and now into full album-length
storytelling demonstrates music's capacity to hold everything—from
individual mourning to shared joy to collaborative truth-telling.
"Every
project has been necessary," he reflects. "'Living Room Rockstar Part
2' was me trying to survive losing Jonasz. The Italian Christmas songs
were us celebrating life and partnership after that darkness. 'My Story'
is my wife claiming her own narrative after 53 years. They're all
connected. They're all part of the same journey from loss toward
healing, from silence toward voice, from alone toward together."
AVAILABILITY AND FUTURE PLANS
"My
Story" is available now on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube
Music, and all major streaming platforms. The lyric video for "Now I
Understand" is available on YouTube.
Youtube link: https://youtu.be/49gPbwNQGB0?si=HyRO5EaJ66dNk4Wu
The
couple plans to continue their collaborative work, with more music from
the "My Story" collection to be promoted throughout 2026.
"This
is just the beginning of my wife's voice being heard," Andrzej
promises. "She has more to say. The world needs to hear it. And I'll
keep writing music that gives her the platform she deserves—the platform
she was denied for too long."
STREAMING LINKS:
YouTube: https://youtu.be/49gPbwNQGB0?si=uWGVLkauIlrfsAZs
Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/album/0J30vjwbCFPJFV0pcRKESG?si=V4rXOWv4Quu0l0cdBYT9Ew
ARTIST CONTACTS & LINKS:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7aIeg5DyI7xwkYLsBgJNWf
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AndrzejCitowicz
Instagram: https://instagram.com/citovitz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/citovitz/